ImpermanenceintheRevanchistCities.Astoryoffourhotels
Introduction
What can four hotels on two different continents, more than 9,000 kilometres apart, have in common? In addition to geographicaldifferences,theculturalandhistoricalcontextseparatesthehotelsintwomajorcities like Tbilisi and Toronto from each other. Despite the radically different circumstances, the similar logic of displacementandtroublingconsequencesofchange(andstayingthesame)canbetraced.
In Tbilisi, Georgia, we walked around and talked to people in and around two Soviet era buildings, Stamba Hotel and Hotel Sakartvelo With their history of use bypeoplewhowereinternallydisplacedbywarsofthe 1990s, one became a boutique art hotel and the other is still in usebytheinternallydisplacedpeople(IDPs)
In Toronto, Canada, Gladstone Hotel and Heydon House tell a similar story - one has transformed into a boutique art hotel pushing out the boundaries of the city centre,theotherremainssubstandardrentalhousing ontheedgeoftheurbansensorium,waitingforitsbigbreak
These seemingly divergent stories provoke many questions: does gentrification happen the same way in a post-socialist setting and do these nuances matter? Can Tbilisi’s experience of totally unchecked growthand chaotic development compare to North American “revanchist city” gentrification that even further marginalisestheworkingclass,low-incomeandalreadymarginalised1?
While thefunctionandmeaningofthesehotelshadchangedoverhistoryandisexcitingtoscholarsoranyone interested in discussing them, perhaps their symbolic value is just that. Hotels reflect change, signalling the arrival of a newhistoricaloreconomicera,illustratedbythestoriesandgeographyofthepeoplelivinginand aroundthem,orvisitingthem. Wheredidtheycomefrom,wheredidtheygoandwherearetheygoing?
In our cases, these buildings are also situated in larger communities of their neighbourhoods, themselves seeing a transformation that displaces affordablehousing TbilisiandTorontocontinuetoseemassivegrowth ofthehousingsector,butespecially,upscalehousing,atthetimeofwriting
Rather than blame these hotel owners for gentrification and displacement (which we surely could do at an incrementallevel),westresstheimportanceofseeingthechangingsymbolismanduseofthehotelsincontext of unchecked construction and growth overall. More importantly, we attempted to begin a community-conscious history of these buildings, and draw lessons about displacement, fromarchitectural,to economic,topersonal.
1 Neil Smith in his body of work over theyearsidentifiesaprocessinwhichgentrificationproducesacitythatpunishes thelowerclasses
Microhistoryasanapproachandmethodology
A micro-history approach was used for this text, to present peculiar moments in the past by focusing on the livesandactivitiesofaperson,agroupofpeopleoranimportantevent2
For this purpose, we used qualitative methodology tools: (1) content analysis - the historyoffourhotelswas reconstructed through historical materials and literature; (2) thorough in-depth interviews, the respondents' experiences and judgements were studied, and (3) walking and observation visits which made it possible to immerse ourselves among people living in hotels, their visitors, and people in the surrounding neighbourhoods
Setting out to collectinterviewsinandaroundthebuildings,theexperiencesdiverged.Katiewasabletowalk around freely or almost freely throughbothStambaandHotelSakartveloandinterviewresidentsofthelatter. Eugene had a security guard follow him down to the bathrooms of the Gladstone Hotel, had to deal with a public relations firm that represented the hotel that never returnedhiscallsandwaseventuallyshownaround and was given an interview with the art curator. He also managed to locate its recent owner (ownership changed in 2020) and speak to them on the phone. The Heydon House is alsoonlock,andalltheinterviews happened outside and around the building, as well as with itsmanageronthephone. Attemptsweremadeto locatepeopledisplacedbytheownersbutfailedatthetimeofwriting.
This article was written between July and October 2022 It was during this four-month period that the researchers documented the hotel buildings and the lifearoundandinsidethem Allphotographsareourown andweretakeninthesameperiod
2 Brewer, John. “Microhistory and the Histories of Everyday Life.” en.cas.uni-muenchen.de, 2010. https://www.en.cas.uni-muenchen.de/media/e series/cas eseries nr5.pdf
Katie/Tbilisi
Going back to their construction,theTorontobuildingsin question appeared in context of industrial growth and a young Canada cementing its colonising grip onitssettled territories by building railroads in the late 19th century. The central stations of major Canadian cities, such as Union stationandtheFairmontRoyalYorkHotel(5stars) across it in Toronto are in top shape, continue to operate and breathe the air of grandeur, monumentally towering over the crowds of pedestrians at the southern flank of Toronto’s all important Financial District, Canada’s Wall Street.
The smaller hotels found on the edgesofoldToronto,are also along the railroads, and were once served by importanttrainstationsandrailyardsplacedattheheartof once booming industry and success as the industry and railways reduced in scale of operations, so changed the communities of Parkdale andtheJunction3,whichformed around thesenolongerexistingworkingrailwayfacilities, andarehometothetwohotelsweexamined.
By the 1960s, the neighbourhoods of Parkdale and the Junction, (that featured not onlyfactoriesandwarehouses but also beautiful 19th century homes - larger ones built for the upper classes, narrower for the working class), werenolongerthepictureofpastsuccess
In the fallof1858,theFrenchwriterAlexandreDumas (1802-1870), who arrived in the Dagestan city of Kizlyar in the Caucasus, wanted to stay in the best hotel, but he was told that "there are no hotels in Kizlyar"9 . In December, the French writer visited Tbilisi. Dumas' journey is reported in his own book "Tales of the Caucasus", a large part of whichisabout Tbilisi, and when describing his impressions of the city, he was excited by the developed hotels, theatre, and opera in Tbilisi. The latter even reminded him of Pompey'stheatre.
The construction of Tbilisi hotels is related to the life of merchants and travellers Until the 19th century, instead of hotels, oriental-type caravanserais served merchants and travellers (Khoshtaria, 2011:7) A caravanserai building stood on the roadside or in an uninhabited place, which offered overnight accommodation to merchants and travellerswandering on long and dusty roads. However, fromthe70softhe 19th centuries, caravanserais lost their function and a boom in hotel construction began. In 1873 the Tbilisi-Poti railway was opened, and after the Russo-Ottoman war of 1877-1878 ended withRussia's victory,therailwaylinespreadevenfasterandin1883, Batumi, Tbilisi and Baku were connected. It was obvious that a new era was emerging. As a result, the roleandfunctionofhotelshasbeenredefined.
The factories and warehouses looked derelict, and the houses looked ill-repaired. Of course, upon a closer investigation we learn that these buildingsbecamehomes to smaller arts and craft’s practitioners, smaller manufacturers, smaller businesses and so on, in the case of the industrial building stock. And sure, people would livethere,despiteitnotbeingzonedforthat.
Since the 19th century, foreigners, mostly Europeans, have been building hotels in Tbilisi (Khoshtaria, 2011:92). This is indicated by the European names of the hotels: "Maderi", "Wetzel", "London"10 , which is why, in additiontoarchitecture,theoldhotelsofTbilisi store information about history and politics of a specificera.
In case of the Edwardian mansions and rowsofVictorian working family houses, these have nowbeentransformed into rental housing, with a large number of boarding houses, or what is termed “single-occupancydwelling”,a room and shared facilities, or a small unit, onecouldrent oftenonaweekly,notmonthlybasis.
While the homes that were not subdivided became home to various immigrant and refugee communities, notably with a large Caribbean, Portuguese and Polish presence, the boarding room houses would become hometomostly single men, immigrant or not, working or on social assistance.
At the beginnings of the hotel business, the service staff represented the peasantry left without land after the emancipation of serfs in Georgia, 1864 However, since the 1880s, Georgians have also been involved in thehotelbusiness(Khoshtaria,1011:92-94)
During the First World War and the Russian Revolution (1914-1918), many hotels in Tbilisiceased to exist, although the constructionofhotelsresumedin Soviet Georgia (Khoshtaria, 2011:123-124). If Tbilisi hotelsofthe19thcenturyareknownfortheirEuropean owners, western city names and guests, Soviet hotels impresswiththeirscaleandluxury
In Parkdale, pharmaceutical advancements in the 1960’s allowed CAMH (Canada’s premier mentalhealthfacility) to release large numbers of incarcerated patients, and not detain nearlyasmanynewcharges Thesemembersofthe community (nownotdeemeddangeroustosocietyaslong as sedated) were made outpatients instead Many stayed in the area, and have taken up residence in the boarding housesnearoneofthehotelsinquestion4
4 For more context see: Slater, Tom Municipally managed gentrification in South Parkdale, Toronto The Canadian Geographer/LeGéographecanadien48(3),303-325,2004.286,2004.
Two centuries ago, hotels in Tbilisi were associated with travel and trade, today they are part of tourism, business industry, and the developmentofanewsocial and cultural class. However, everything did not develop so consistently - how did it happen that the hotels of Soviet socialist Tbilisi today became the vanguard of multifunctional business, new “creative class” and tourism, when in 1991, after the restoration of Georgia's independence, Soviet hotels, sanatoriums and other state-owned buildings lost theirfunctionand became“collectivecentres”giventoIDPs? 10 Khoshtaria, David
German-Georgian Archive, May 30, 2017 http://german-georgianarchivege/ka/blog/16
On the other end, at the northern end of the Junction, Canadian Pacific Railways have closed their yards, which, up until recently, employed many residents. The other big employer, a meat packing facility, now a mall, stayed until the early 1990s, but this remained a community in decline if real-estate and attractiveness were concerned. Of course, the area also gave home to new immigrants from countries mentioned above, to add theItaliansandtheMaltese. This is the context in which the buildings in question, Gladstone Hotel and the Heydon House, came to serve theircommunitiesasboardinghouses Anothe s) is about sign on the on't be spa n on the right is from the Catholic School Board
In the shadow of two empires: RussianandtheSoviet, what was a symbol of Europeanness, development, economic progress, culture and architectureinGeorgia in the 19th and 20th centuries, at the end of the 20 century became a symbol of failure, poverty, homelessness and displacement. Today, these hotels and large-scale Soviet buildingsarefociofattentionas subjects of encroaching change, all in the name of modernisingthepresent.
Looking out from Hotel Sakartvelo New construction in the near distance HotelSakartvelo11
The 1950s is the period following the Second World War, when the construction of gigantic projects began in Soviet Georgia. In these years, Europeans were building Tbilisi once again - this time it was the German prisoners of war. During the 60s Tbilisi’s famous buildings were built: Tbilisi TV Broadcasting Tower (1955), Sports Palace (1955), Mikheil Meskhi Stadium (1952-1955),theundergroundmetro(in1966; it was the fourth after Moscow, Leningrad and Kyiv), andotherinfrastructuralfacilities.
The Heydon House was built in 1890 on the site of an older hotel. A red-brick building in a Romanesquestyle, though more modest than the Gladstone, designed by the “architect of theJunction”JamesEllis,andthusfitswithin a roster of heritage buildings in the area, such as banks, postofficesandapartmentbuildings5 .
Along with the development of the communication network, cultural spaces and sports fields, the construction of hotels was underway. HotelSakartvelo located in the central part of the city at Melikishvili avenue #12 which was completed in 1959 in connection with the 1500th anniversary of Tbilisi and wasthefirstGeorgianSoviethotel.
The building is visually beautifulwithtallcolumns Its monumental forms occupy one of the prominent blocks on Melikishvili Street Though it was the dominant building of the street in terms of itsphysical dimensions, today it isdifficulttoeasilynoticeitsgrey exterior among the surrounding business centres, newlybuilthigh-riseapartments andhotels
The Heydon House Hotel looking east on St Clair Avenue towards Old Weston Road East of the intersection high-rise condos are in their final phase of construction on both sides of St. Claire.
The giant Soviet hotel has a luxuriousexterioraswell
High vaulted ceilings, wide corridors, solid, thick walls, massive doors and windows, huge chandeliers and carved staircase handrails indicate the richness of socialistwealth
5 McGinnis, Rick. “What's next for the Heydon House at Old Weston Road?” blogTO. blogTO, January 12, 2014. https://wwwblogtocom/city/2014/01/whats next for the heydon house at old weston road/
It is currently a rental apartment building with 6 or 8 tenants, with two shutstorefrontsonthemainfloor,while a convenience store and a furniture store remain. At the time of writing, the top floorisreportedlyvacantasithas been for at least a decade, in poor shape and thebuilding needsmajorrepairs(saysthemanager).
The convenience store on the first floor.
In interviews, we learned that Heydon is often an unknown landmark to the creatives of Toronto who are well familiar with the Gladstone It is only recently regardedas“inacoolarea”
However, this cool area is a trade off - young home buyers are heard saying “It’s either we movetoHamilton (a smaller, cheaper city outside of Toronto, itself gentrifying) or we move to St.ClairandKeele(themajor intersection near Heydon House)”, implying these arethe outerreaches.
The ain entrance of the building from the side of Melikishvili Avenue features a high-ceilinged vestibule, where the external impression of the building fades away The luxurious building gives the impression of an abandoned past The windows are dusty, but the building's interior balconies and the staircase leading to the upper floors still help reconstruct the past, that once upon a time,richSoviet citizensortheirguestsmusthavehadagoodtimehere Vast, red-carpeted corridors with gigantic chandeliers are a facade, behind which the poor reality of post-Soviet Georgia can be seen. People displaced from Abkhazia after the war in 1992-1993 have been livinghereinSakartveloforthe29thyear.
Situated in an area on the edge of the fun and happening centre of the city and its cool west end, Heydon House has housed only a few tenants over the recent decades, described as lower-income or socially assisted. In an interview with the manager, we learned that the building has changed hands from one family member to another and thenewownershavestartedwithsomeminorrepairs, and “helping the remaining tenants find homes in the area.”
“We wanted to do things right,wearenotslumlords”the manager claimed, adding thatthereisstillalotofworkto dointhebuilding.
In addition to all the high-rises, the trainsarereturningto the neighbourhood, as anewstationisabouttobeopened in the old streetcar facility in the block just behind Heydon House Interestingly, digital renderings of the station by the builder do not include a view of the old hoteloranyotherbuildingsaroundit,asifsuggestingthat itsfutureismurky6 .
Residents in the area are excited about the station but have mixed feelings about the new condos, including a development on the third corner that will replace the old Bingohall
On May 26, 1991, Georgia regained its independence and became an independent republic,althoughthefirst years of independence began war in the Autonomous territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. As a result, up to 300,000 citizens became internally displaced persons, many of whom took refuge in the capital and therefore inthethen-emptybuildings.HotelSakartvelo became one of these shelters. From the first years of living in Tbilisi, the expectations and hopes of the IDPs were related to their return to Abkhazia, that is why the building Sakartvelo really serves as a hotel, a waitingroomforthenextgenerations.
Wandering through the corridors of the building was like visiting a history exhibition - the flags of Georgia and the European Union painted on the walls are a visualisation of the political aspirations of the locals, the basketball shield made of a broken chair standing in the corridor is a children's playground, and the windowsills overflowing with plant pots and nearby, water accumulated in Coca-Colabottlestowaterthem. The smell of dinner in the corridors is also a natural characteristic of this place. The 12-square-meter space of a standard hotel room is narrow for families, and cooking dinner in the corridor compensates for this narrowness. While walking in the building,theyeasily noticed that I was a stranger. Resident of Sakartvelo, Mrs Mziainvitedmeforcoffeeandshowedmephotos of her two-story burnt houseinGali,Abkhazia Photos of the burnt house hung on the wall of the hotel, like landscapesofmemorysites
6 “St. Clair-Old Weston GO Station.” Metrolinx. Accessed November 9, 2022. https://wwwmetrolinxcom/en/greaterregion/projects/smarttrack-st-clair-old-weston-go-stationaspx
A city outreach sign on the site of the Bingo hall, a hub for many seniors in the area, to be replaced by a high-rise condo complex While some complainthatthebuildingswillblockoutthe sun, othersaregladtoseemorepeopleandbusinesscome to the area. A mechanic a few doors down fromthehotel shared that thereishopewiththenewconstruction.When asked if he might benefit from the density or more likely be asked to move his business, he conceded that he is expectingtogetdisplacedatsomepoint.
There are now again six or eight tenants on the second floor,inslightlyrepairedunits Welearnedinaninterview but could not verify that the investors from construction across the street have offered a sum exceeding $10 million for the building. The new owners so far refuse to sell.
The conversation withMziatouchedontwoissues:the hope of returning to Abkhazia and the resettlement program established by the state fordisplacedpersons. Around these two topics, researchers and the media often use the word "expectation", while IDPs use "hope".
Mzia is recently retired, has grandchildren and says that although she has been living inadilapidatedhotel room in Tbilisi for 29 years, she hopes to return back to Abkhazia, this hope was born again after thewarin UkrainestartedbyRussia
GladstoneHotel
A long-time resident shares the view out of her kitchen Hotel Sakartvelo. Neighbours were also present at our conversation. Nobody wanted to talk about politics, but the topic of returning to Abkhazia was interesting for everyone. The women said that they left Abkhazia and their homes temporarily because of the war, and no one expected that this temporary displacement would last 29 years or even more. To confirm this, they recalled that they only took a few dresses from home, as they weregoingtoreturnbacksoon
Situated in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto, and built in 1889, the Gladstone is a four story red-brick buildingdesignedbylocalarchitectGeorgeMartellMiller in the above mentioned Romanesque Revival style, a trending style of the time for public buildings The early 2000s saw a drawn out process of relocating Gladstone’s residents with the help of the new owner, (now changed again) and a charitable housing agency before a large-scale renovation and transformation into an art boutiquehoteltookplace.
ed life from scratch - weturnedthehotelinto the women said toeachotherinthecorridor el,andeveryoneseemedtoagreesilently.
not the only residents of this hotel sinesses are located in the building, a small operatesononeofthefloors,whichoffersits ice to potential vacationers via its Facebook pageinEnglishandRussianonly
Sakartvelo Hotel building appears damaged from the outside, but its central location and the economic potential of the building are often discussed It is periodically reported that an investor has been identified for the building, who can build a modern hotel, casino or even both together The authorities present this asapositiveapproach,becausetwoproblems would be solved: after 29 years of waiting, the displaced people will get "normal" housing, and the building will acquire a new life.Butwhatwillthenew lifeofthebuildingbe?
hotel s with ritage tance, gg f s first converted in the early 2000s7
The "chaotic development" that began after the restoration of independence even created such an anecdote among Tbilisi residents that the city and any old building is temporary -"aninvestorwillcome,and a hotel will probably be built here" - they often say in their dailyconversations.Expectingtheconstructionof modern “blue glazed super shell12” multi-functional hotels have less positive connotations, it ismoreabout erasing the past, changing it while disregarding the interests of the locals. Which begs the question - is building fashionable hotels and multifunctional business centres really a modernization of the city without modernization of decision making on that policy?
HotelStamba13
SupportfortheArts
Almost 20 years later, the Gladstone is still an art hotel. The hotel walls and rooms feature contemporary Canadianart.
7Ritchie, Kevin. “Inside the Renovated Gladstone House Hotel.” NOW Magazine, November 25, 2021. https://nowtorontocom/culture/art-and-design/inside-the-renovated-gladstone-house-hotel
Hotel Stamba is located in the centre of Tbilisi, on Merab Kostava street #14. The Soviet industrial complex of the 1930s was a publishing house and the first Georgian Soviet Communist newspaper was published here The reconstruction and modernization of the building was completed in 2018, and a modern multifunctional hotel, publishing house, bar, hotel, restaurant, casino, bookstore, micro-vegetable garden andexhibitionspaceswereopenedinit 13 StambaisthenameofaprintinghouseintheGeorgianlanguage 12 2020,https://www.aboutarchitecture.studio/
English text graffiti on the wall of Hotel Stamba
In its latest iterationunderthenewownerseachroomhad a Canadian artist commissioned to install or paint apiece ofart
Several artists at a time are supported with free shared studio space in the basement, adjacent to guest facilities such as exercise rooms and bathrooms. The door (as pre-agreed) is open all day and guests are welcome to enterandengagewiththeartist.
"Stamba has become the symbol of Tbilisi's transformation from a Soviet backwater to a sophisticated,globallyconnectedmetropolis14"youcan read on the Internet about Stamba The building has truly become a symbol of modern, luxurious life in Tbilisi, where neon lights and artificially created greenery attractandthelocalandexpatcreativeclass15 , the freelancers, artists, art managers, curators, businessmen,politicians,andhigh-endsexworkers
14 Kurzela, Agata. “Stamba Hotel Allows Guests to Experience the History of Its Building.” identity, November 11, 2020 https://identityae/stamba-hotel-allows-guests-to-experience-the-history-of-its-building/
15 The creative class is the position of an urban studies theorist Richard Florida for an ostensible socioeconomic class. RichardFloridalivesandteachesinToronto
Looking back twenty years,muchofartsprogrammingof the early 2000s is scaled down and the offices rented to artsorganisationshavebeenconvertedbacktotheiruseas hotel suites. Sunday brunch featuring drag performances are a staple event. What has been hailed as one homefor the arts and LGBTQ+ community remains that but at a more modest level, especially since the neighbouring Beaver, a revered institution in the same community, has shutitsdoorsovertheCOVIDpandemic.
Not taking place in a vacuum, Tom Slater has described the displacement in the whole of community of Parkdale that has in fact been taking place since the 1980’s as the boarding and rooming houses were increasingly regulated by the city andbegandisappearing,pushingout the low-income or socially assisted residents, as a newly “emancipatedofsuburbia”middleclasssettledin.
This slow displacement in the area finally came to Gladstone in the early 2000s In the case of the hotel, which was home to mainly persons on social and disability assistance, perhaps because of its visibility and the publicity with which the eviction took place, it stuck outinthecontextofToronto’sgentrification
Sitting at the end of several blocks of Queen Street West that already featured an increasing number of small art galleries and warehouses, as well as another, recently gentrified Drake hotel, the Gladstone was taken over, in part, by a family already known in Toronto formanaging a historic property, 401 Richmond Street, converted for use by small new businesses, organisations and art galleries.
Although the niche selling point of the hotel includes the nationalisation of a Soviet building, Georgian is rarely spoken here. Theindoorspaceandterraceofthe hotel restaurant are busy almost any time of the weekday. The young service staff host the guests with Georgian hospitality The inner courtyard of the hotel is landscaped with exotic plants and the toptearofthe wooden bleachers offer a bird’s eye view of the cosy garden/square punctuated with an overgrown electric tower Selfies are taken in this courtyard under pink neon lights, as young people rush to events at the art and activist spaces in the unfinished wing, accessible viaanunder-constructionstaircase16
16 Lindsay, Calum. “Soviet Publishing House in Tbilisi Transformed into Stamba Hotel.” Dezeen,December14,2018. https://wwwdezeencom/2018/12/14/video-stamba-hotel-tbilisi-georgia/
A documentary, Last Call at the Gladstone Hotel, has been made about the process that tells the story of good intentions opposed by market forces and government regulation. In conjunction with the hotel’s transformation into a welcoming venue for artists and theLGBTQ+plus community, a process torehousetheresidentsinthesame community unfolded, after the city orderedmajorrepairs. Leading up to this, the owners claimed, there were no plans to relocate the tenants. Intheend,residentsdidfind homes in the same community of Parkdale in a coordinated effort made by the ownership and local non-profits.
The bigger storyhere,asportrayedinthefirstimagefrom amovingtrain,isthecreepingupofthelargeconstruction projects in an area already slowly gutted of affordable housing, and painfully for this community, its single occupancyspaces.
In fact, going back to the early 2000s a group of more community conscious developers, architects and artists, which included thecreativeclassownersoftheGladstone set up a cooperative format with the firms that were coming into the area around the time of the transformation of the hotel The new developers would eventually demolish blocks of industrial era warehouses mentioned above, that housed small businesses and informal tenants, often of the creative class, to buildhigh risecondominiumapartmentbuildings
Interior of the hotel Stamba looking out at the courtyard from the basement stairwell
Most of the English-language advertisements or articles about the hotel and it’s building proudly talk about history: "Visitors not onlyexperiencethehistory of the building –andTbilisi–bybeingcocoonedamid Stamba's book collection, but the attention to detail goes as far as the fittings' selection, especially in the bathrooms, with consistent references thatdatebackto the1930s17 . "
17 “Stamba Hotel Opens in Former Soviet-Era Publishing House in Tbilisi.” Agenda.ge, May 2, 2018. https://agendage/en/news/2018/932
The consultation process includedrecommendationsfrom the activist but elite group called Active18,tryingtotreat residents more humanely and to keep some of the legacy buildings8 . However, the firms would eventually blame the city government for dragging its feet in allowing creative rezoning and other accommodations, sue and get to do more or less what they wanted This process would later be used as a template by developers doing other projects in Toronto - consult to save face, commit to sustainable solutions but then usetheexcuseofredtapeandthecourt systemtoavoidexecution
It is in this kind of environment that vulnerable populations and communities of Toronto are displaced. And while it has been happening more to some communities for decades now, as withtheGladstone,itis coming on strong only now inothers,suchastheHeydon Houseneighbourhood
In 1992-1993, after Abkhazia and the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, internally displaced persons settled in the "Samshoblo" publishing house, but in 2010 they were evicted by police force, without offering compensation or an alternative living space18 .
The reason for the eviction wastheprivatisationofthe building19 . A year earlier, the press offices of various magazines and newspapers were also evicted from the publishinghouseforthesamereason20 .
Thus, the former publishing house Samshoblo21 and currently the hotel Stamba simultaneously serves as a symbol of Soviet and modern architecture, aesthetics of the 20th and 21st centuries, socialist and capitalist politics and so much more As the historical overview of hotels shows, their operation also depends on such global factors as war, economicprocesses,andculture. Therefore, the hotel temporarily has the shape that the era gives it, although in its change, itispossibletosee thefutureperspectiveofit.
8 The whole process is aptly documented and analysed in Darren O’Donnell’s West Queen West Triangle: The Inside Story(2010),madeavailablebytheauthor.
interpressnewsge, June 26, 2010 https://wwwinterpressnewsge/ka/article/141132-gamomcemloba-samshoblos-shenobidan-gamosaxlebuli-devnilebis-nac ils-xelisupleba-kompensacias-ar-stavazobs/
interpressnews.ge, April 6, 2009. https://wwwinterpressnewsge/ka/article/26253-gamomcemloba-samshoblos-shenobidan-gamozevebuli-redakciebis-car momadgenlebma-akcia-gamartes/
The communities westudiedcanbeseenasin“activewaiting”,anunderstandingthat“peoplesimultaneously move on during displacement,feelstuckinthepresent,andactivelyrelatetoalternativeandchangingnotions ofthefuture”
Narratives of these communities as homes, homemaking practices and the everyday struggles of people as individualsandmembersoftheircommunitycanbejuxtaposedtothestoryofthemarketforces22 .
22 This approach of understanding the built form and the displaced in Georgian and comparative perspective is well positedinBrun(2022)UnderstandingProtractedDisplacementThroughDwelling
Bibliography
Badalge, Keshia “In Tbilisi, Stamba Hotel Takes a PagefromaFormerSovietPrintingPress”Design Milk, March 20, 2019 https://design-milkcom/in-tbilisi-stamba-hotel-takes-a-page-from-a-former-soviet-printing-press/ Brewer, John “Microhistory and the Histories of Everyday Life” encasuni-muenchende, 2010 https://wwwencasuni-muenchende/media/e series/cas eseries nr5pdf
Brun, Cathrine “Understanding Protracted Displacement through the Dwelling” Urban Recovery, 2021,140–66 https://doiorg/104324/9781003091707-7
Gorsuch, Anne E. All This Is Your World: Soviet Tourism at Home and Abroad after Stalin. Oxford: OxfordUniversityPress,2013
Gvadzabia, Mikheil “‘Oxygen’ – საბჭოთა მუშტი ბატუტზე და თანამედროვე ქართველი არტისტების სხვა გზავნილები ”NETGAZETIge AccessedNovember 5,2022 https://netgazetige/news/278927/
Harris-Brandts, Suzanne, and David Sichinava “Architecture and Friendship among Nations” AccessedNovember5,2022 https://wwwsichinavage/papers/harris-brandts sichinava-2021apdf
Khoshtaria, David “Old Hotels Of Tbilisi” atinaticom, November 30, 2019 https://wwwatinaticom/news/5fa1852064faee0038aaf5c4
Khoshtaria, David Tʻbilisis Żveli Sastumroebi = Old Hotels of Tbilisi Tbilisi: Gamomcʻemloba Artanuji,2011
Khoshtaria, David. “გერმანელთა სასტუმროები ძველ თბილისში. ” German-Georgian Archive, May 30,2017 http://german-georgianarchivege/ka/blog/16
Kurtishvili, Irina. “Hotel Iberia. The City And The Tower.” irinakurtishvili.com, 2022. https://www.irinakurtishvili.com/hotel-iveria.
Kurzela, Agata. “Stamba Hotel Allows Guests to Experience the History of Its Building.” identity, November 11, 2020. https://identity.ae/stamba-hotel-allows-guests-to-experience-the-history-of-its-building/.
Lindsay, Calum. “Soviet Publishing House in Tbilisi Transformed into Stamba Hotel.” Dezeen, December14,2018.https://www.dezeen.com/2018/12/14/video-stamba-hotel-tbilisi-georgia/. McGinnis, Rick “What's next for the Heydon House at Old Weston Road?” blogTO blogTO,January 12, 2014 https://wwwblogtocom/city/2014/01/whats next for the heydon house at old weston road/ Novitsky, A. “Tbilisi.” National Parliamentary Library of Georgia. საბჭოთა საქართველო, 1961. AccessedNovember5,2022 https://dspacenplggovge/bitstream/1234/44825/1/Tbilisipdf
Palus, Kinga, and Joanna Zabawa-Krzypowska “Architecture Of Tbilisi – On The Borderline OfTwo Worlds Part II” The Silesian University of Technology Accessed November 5, 2022 http://delibrabgpolslpl/Content/27755/BCPS 31353 - Architecture-of-Tbil 0000pdf
Ritchie, Kevin “Inside the Renovated Gladstone House Hotel” NOW Magazine,November25,2021 https://nowtorontocom/culture/art-and-design/inside-the-renovated-gladstone-house-hotel
Sidamonidze, David “Georgian Railways as Part of the South Caucasian Transport Corridor” Journal of Young Researchers, December 2018 http://jyrtsuge/public/uploads/sitepdf/03-სიდამონიძე%20(2)pdf
Slater, Tom “Municipally managed gentrification in South Parkdale, Toronto” The Canadian Geographer/LeGéographecanadien48(3),303-325,2004 286,2004
Smith, Neil “The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City” Google Books Psychology Press https://booksgooglecom/books/about/The New Urban Frontierhtml?id=EMM2xowSlEgC
“St Clair-Old Weston GO Station” Metrolinx Accessed November 9, 2022 https://wwwmetrolinxcom/en/greaterregion/projects/smarttrack-st-clair-old-weston-go-stationaspx
“Stamba Hotel Opens in Former Soviet-Era Publishing House in Tbilisi” Agendage, May 2, 2018 https://agendage/en/news/2018/932
Theodorou, Maria “The Iveria Hotel in Tbilisi” https://rmcoe, 2003 https://rmcoeint/090000168093e8a3,p24
June 26, 2010 https://www.interpressnews.ge/ka/article/141132-gamomcemloba-samshoblos-shenobidan-gamosaxlebu li-devnilebis-nacils-xelisupleba-kompensacias-ar-stavazobs/.
While the idea of waiting suggests doom, the lens of active waiting includes hope Not always a positive, it “represents visions for the world that create possibilities for change and is consequently an important perspectiveforidentifyingpotentialforimprovedlives”(Brun,2022:161)
We confirmed in our research that there isapopularattitudetowardsoldbuildings,Sovietornon-Soviet,that their ageing is a "headache" and that their demolition, modernization, or preservation, are seen as important forthedevelopmentofcities.
In the changes brought in the name of modernization or renewal, most often the people living in these buildings, the workforce employed there or simply visitors are not considered Such modernization pushes people out, be it the periphery or somewhere else in the same city or area Attempts to perform such transitions humanely, like in the Gladstone case, donotalwayssucceedassuchandarestilldrivenbymarket forces
Development and modernization tend to happen without the people who have kept these buildings alive, in some cases, paying hefty rents, in others physically repairing the building. And it would seem that it isonly up to the whims of individual landlords and unpredictable market forces that there are still old hotels and buildingsinTbilisiandTorontothatare,alongwiththeirresidents,waitingforchange.
This waiting is often presented by researchers as a negative, passive phenomenon,inwhichonlytheresultis shown - when people are forced toleavethebuildings Suchanapproachmissestheprocessbywhichpeople had preserved the buildings in thisvery'waiting',turnedthemintohomes,raisedgenerations,andresistedthe erasureofhistory.